Ceci n'est pas une Zaku.

Dungeons and Dragons, TTRPGs, Worldbuilding, Cooking, Gunpla, and all the rest.

[pyronicex]

New Character Backstory: Conradh Loudain, Echo Knight

New campaign starting and decided to finally check out Echo Knight!  Had an idea for a backstory, enjoy!

Conradh Loudain watches the sun set, and starts to think about how many summers he’s seen come and go.  An insignificant number for Elves and Dwarves he’s met over the years, but his hard, callused hands are no longer those of the young man he once was.  He learned his sword from his father, and his father learned it from his father, but nobody learns this style anymore, not since Bazmarahn ascended.  His focus breaks and his hands start to blur and double around the edges.  Conradh takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, refocusing his mind.  He opens his eyes again and everything looks normal.  He gets up off the sand, dusts himself off and decides to do another walkaround of the camp.

The Sorceress in red elbows the Knight beside her: “hey, what’s his deal anyways?” she whispers.  The Knight looks up to see where she’s looking and looks back at the blade he’s sharpening.  “Loudain? He’s been quiet lately,  lost his party few months back, hasn’t been the same since.  Why, he catch your eye?” 

“No… maybe…?  Does he do magic?” “No.  I ne’er seen Loudain without that longsword at his hip”  “There’s something about him… makes my blood itch, feels like magic”

The Knight shrugs again.  “Dunno, some say he left those poor bastards to die and they cursed him from beyond the grave.  Heard others say he had to sell his soul to survive whatever happened down there.  Ne’er heard him say one way or the oth-”

To the Knight’s surprise, the Sorceress cuts him off: “No, it doesn’t feel like he’s been tainted by a curse or some devil’s influence, ‘s gotta be somethin’ else…”  The Knight sighs and lifts his blade to check his work.

Conradh can still remember the smiles on everyone’s faces, Kaill the halfling trapper had gotten them through the last door and they could see the piles of treasure in front of them.  Selena the fencer’s eye had swollen shut, Conradh’s only human companion had taken a blow right to the face about an hour earlier.  Irod’s smile bared all his feline teeth, the iron sage had organized this expedition to honor Mystra and they’d found more than they ever dreamed would be down here.  After that, the memories start to get hazy. Someone picked it up off a pile, something intricately carved out of different metals, with brilliant needles sticking out in all different directions seeming to hold up some kind of black sphere in the middle.  Conradh remembers his eyes being drawn to the black sphere like it was pulling at his consciousness.  Before he could say anything, energy started rippling out of the Idol in ribbons the color of the night sky, while the metal pins and latticework started glowing like metal in a forge brighter and brighter, blinding everyone until…

Vision, blurred. Ears ringing.  His friends, in pieces on the stone floor.  Choking.  Falling. 

Cold sand burning his skin.  The oppressive heat of the sun.  And darkness.

Conradh was found by a nomadic caravan patrol and nursed back to health.  When he could speak, he tried to explain what had happened to him and his expedition.  It soon became clear that Conradh was missing 2 months of time.  Between the end of his memories and when he was rescued more than 2 months had passed, though the healers claimed his wounds were fresh and Conradh would have succumbed to those injuries had he not been found when he was.

[pyronicex]

Character Backstory: Seven

Out in the ocean there lies an island among islands, lush, vibrant, and alive.  On this nameless island there is a large waterfall, and hidden by this great waterfall’s spray is a village apart from the world.  The Jade Mist Village is home to a small number of Tabaxi content to live their lives in peace.  Some years ago, a Tabaxi was born under auspicious circumstances.  Stars in the northern night sky were shining especially bright, seven stars to light the heavens above.  Good omens for the Tabaxi.  All agreed that the newborn should inherit this omen and now carries the name Seven Stars of the Northern Sky.

Seven’s childhood went by without incident, and he learned both of the Jade Mist Clan’s history, and unique martial traditions used to protect the village.  As Seven approached adulthood his curiosity of the outside world intensified.  Some Tabaxi are especially prone to this kind of curiosity, a type of wanderlust that will carry a Tabaxi from one end of the world to the other.  Once sated, a wanderer will return home if able and with the knowledge accumulated become a new village elder.

Seven left home and made his way to strange lands filled with peoples he’d only heard about.  The outside world however, was far more dangerous and cruel than Seven had anticipated.  Saffron was a Tabaxi from a different clan than Seven and he could not help but be drawn to them.  Saffron was to Seven’s eyes both beautiful and mysterious.  He would have believed anything they told him.  

It wasn’t until the thugs wearing blue armbands stopped the pair that Seven thought anything was out of the ordinary and when Saffron started to draw a concealed sword his suspicions were confirmed.  The ensuing fight was anything but the graceful, fluid, dance that Seven had been taught from a young age.  It was brutal, savage, and ended with Seven standing over Saffron wielding a stone covered in Tabaxi blood.  Seven buried their bodies, keeping only the blue arm bands to ask some locals about who he’d fought.  

When he made it back to the small village Saffron had led him away from the people there greeted him as a hero.  The bandits in blue arm bands had been robbing travelers and merchants in this area for months and had recently murdered another traveler.  The thankful villagers let Seven stay with them until his injuries healed, and on the day he was to leave they gave him new clothes, to replace his cut, torn, and bloodstained garb from the fight.  A loose-fitting coat, meant for a man as tall as Seven, but far larger in build, and a billowing red scarf.  When he left that village he found that surrounding towns and settlements had heard the story of the courageous Tabaxi and has never felt unwelcome when arriving in a new settlement.

Several years have passed since that first, real fight and Seven has had many since then.  All the while cherishing the jacket and scarf given to him by those grateful villagers.

[pyronicex]

Character Origin: Alexei

Что у тре́звого на уме́, то у пья́ного на языке́

Hmm? what's that?

I said, you know what they say, "Whatever's on a sober man's mind, is on a drunk man’s tongue"

The man sitting next to Alexei had been useful, the pair had just finished the job they’d been paid for and were drinking to celebrate.  A few silver a day to guard a warehouse for a month.  Tomorrow they’d be paid and would likely never see each other again.  Mikhail was a few inches shorter than Alexei, but he had done his job well.  Three times during the last month the duo were tested and three times the warehouse had stayed shut.

Alexei grunted.

Alexei, i’ve spent every gods-forsaken night this month trying to get you to open up to me.

I did not want to speak about my past then, and I do not wish to now. 

Alexei had a lot to drink tonight, and was getting irritated.

Come on now, what could it hurt to just tell me a little about how a man like you ended up in the middle of nowhere, standing in the snow watching an oversized barn.

Alexei grunted again.

If it will shut you up, I will tell you some of how I came to be here.

Alexei drinks deeply from his bottle and begins:

As a young man, I trained to join the guards to protect the village of my birth.  It was a small, remote village, but it was my village and I was certain that my fate was to protect my village and my family.  I trained with sword and bow, and guarded my home for years. On the longest, coldest night of winter, a trapper who lived near the village came to report that he had seen a strange looking house near town that had not been there the week before.  A house with the legs of a chicken.  Myself and 2 other men went to confirm the trapper’s story; We thought surely he had just gotten lost and his eyes played tricks in the snowy night.  What we did not expect was to find a house just where the trapper had described to us, and even more unexpected were the legs of a chicken on which the house rested.  We approached the house with caution that night. We knocked on the door to rouse any inside, and when we got no answer we opened the door and went inside…

Mikhail notices Alexei wince slightly as he takes another drink.

After that, I remember nothing.  I awoke the next morning in the middle of the village covered in snow and blood.  We never found the bodies of the other two, and the house was gone, as if it had never existed.  I began having the nightmares almost immediately.  Nightmares of moonlit nights, of watching my men be torn to pieces over and over.  A bear, a massive bear more swift and savage than any I have ever witnessed in these mountains.  Each morning we would hear about a beast stalking the village at night.  We found dead rodents at first, but soon it was dogs, and then goats.  A curse the villagers said, whatever happened to us at the house on chicken legs had cursed the village.  Shunned by the villagers, and tortured by the nightmares, I knew I had to find the beast and slay it.  By day I scoured the forests for any signs of the beast, by night I saw only blood and violence.  A week later, I awoke in the middle of the forest covered in blood, with the remains of my gruesome crime just beside me.  The villagers were more right than they knew.  I was cursed.  

It would only be a matter of time before the villagers discovered my crime, so I… I fled from the village, from my home.  I wandered the mountains for several days aimless, waking each morning covered in the gore of some animal or another.  Then, one night I had a different sort of dream.  The pain and anger were still there but there was someone else.  The morning sun was rising, A rider, white as freshly fallen snow.  She said something I didn’t understand, and performed some kind of ritual.  The light of the morning sun got brighter and brighter until I could not see and then the dream was gone.  

Something was different.  I could feel it.  No longer did I wake up covered in blood and fur.  The nightmares that had plagued me night after night had disappeared.  The beast and I had become one.  I changed my name and started earning a living as a lumberjack far from my village.  I could never go back to the home I had left.  I spent many years living in solitude, keeping what I had become a secret, but then a passing trader told me of a rumor he’d heard.

“Baba Yaga’s White Rider’s been seen in these parts recently.”  It all started to fit together, the house on chicken legs, the nightmares, the White Rider.  I thought the Rider had been just another part of my nightmares, but perhaps it had been more than that.  From there it was simple, I came down from the mountains to find the White Rider.  When I find her, she will lead me to Baba Yaga, and I will make the Witch tell me what happened that night and make her undo this terrible curse. I move from town to town, doing the work a man without a home or family can do, and I listen for any rumor of the Witch’s Riders.

Bozhe Moi, its you…  you are медведь, the man who is a bear.

Alexei winced at the title people had given him when his secret had gotten out.  Since his run-in with the White Rider Alexei found he could choose to become the Beast from his nightmares through force of will alone.  He had needed the strength of the beast more than once since he left the mountains.  Alexei dropped his bottle into the snow and put his hand on his axe.

Mikhail, I think you are right, I have said too much…

The fear and realization hit Mikhail at once and he could not will his legs to move or his throat to speak any louder than whisper.

N-no, Alexei I can keep your secret, we have spent this whole month together, y-yes?

It is true Mikhail, we have spent this month together, and that is why I know…

What do you know Alexei? I--I promise I will never tell a soul of your s-secret.

I know what they say: "Whatever's on a sober man's mind, is on a drunk man’s tongue"

END.

[pyronicex]

Epilogue from the Burning Sands campaign

The heat was almost as unbearable as the pain.  He’d fallen to the jungle floor, looking up into the canopy and at the clear sky.  Awful heat for winter he thought.  A shadow loomed over him, and the blurry form coalesced into a shape he knew.  An ally.

Urien, is it? He confirmed what he knew to be true.

Yes, I am he. The Tall figure with mud brown fur and short broad horns that looked like shells.  He wore shining plate of exquisite workmanship, a suit of Full Armor. 

You’ve failed. The words came from his mouth deliberately, without emotion.

Obviously. He hadn’t the strength to confirm his injuries, but he expected his arm was severed. The other, crushed beyond use.  Only one of his legs seemed to be in tact, and he was sure his left eye had been crushed.  Hot blood matted his mane and much of his clothes.  It hurt to breathe, ribs probably broken as well.  There was a long silence before he began with a whisper.

They had help.... your ‘colleague’ intervened.  Only a few more minutes and I would have had it under control.  The dying Felis tried and failed to sit up.  That WHORE conspired to help them.  You told me the Braves would not interfere in my expedition.  The Artefact was the only thing that could have turned the course of the War.  If I hadn’t magicked myself away, i’d be in the belly of that damned lizard!

You misunderstand me, Alienist.  You know the strict law that binds the Braves.  We come when we are summoned by the crown, that is all.  I have my way, and she, hers.  He paused and takes a deep breath before continuing.

Yseaux had no impact on- The Felis started to interrupt but Urien continued louder than before no impact on the failure of your expedition, Doctor.  You failed because you’ve run out of time.  It is too late.

No… The Felis’ mind raced with the implication.  What had happened in his home in his absence?  He started to focus his mind, recalling the incantations to heal his wounds and spoke to the looming Knight Urien.

Then, we will have to go into hiding.  I will have to let the others know so we can gather our strength.  Atleca may have been a failure but there are other powers i’ve researched, surely we can-

Urien cut him off: I will inform the others that the entire expedition was lost, to a man.

Dread washed over the Felis as he tried to recall incantations but he couldn’t keep any thought in his mind long enough to form magic.  His existence was spent in his fight atop the city Itza.  The Alienist realized the true purpose for the Knight’s arrival.  

...Fuck

When the Knight turned and left, the back of his shield showed a Hanged Man.

[pyronicex]

Prologue to a One-Shot: Lose Yourself.

On the Eastern Reaches of Lyonne, the sun-drenched savannah gives way to gentle hills that roll right to the doorstep of the Infinite Forest.  The only thing that blemishes the idyllic windswept hills are the remnants of a bygone age, stone ruins that jut out of the tall grass like teeth or thorns, a history that won’t be forgotten.

In the last 7 days, each of you was approached when you believed you were alone, by a masked Chojin, a messenger of the Dragon Gods.  They said nothing, but handed you an ornate parchment scroll tied with string made from spun gold.  Inside it contained a job offer.  They already knew what you wanted more than anything else in this world, and dangled it as payment for a job completed.  Where to meet, who you would meet with, where you needed to go, it was all neatly listed on the scroll, complete with answers to the questions you only thought to ask while reading it.

You set out from the settlement city of Halcyon in a carriage also hired by your benefactor, off the beaten path and 2 days out to the rolling hills, far from any town or village.  You couldn’t help but re-read the job description over and over while travelling.

“In these ruins from a lost age

You’ll find the relics of an ancient mage.

Procure for us the staff that made him wise

And you will have earned your prize.

However, be wary while you explore

Or you may lose yourself forever more.”

The scroll goes on to describe the staff in question, ~6ft long, silver finish, the headpiece frames a softball sized Amethyst geode that is said to look like an open eye.

Your carriage crests one final hill before you see it.  A ring of standing stones, pillars that remained standing after everything they supported fell, and in the center a small mound with an opening, like a mouth just above the water’s surface.  Your entrance into the dungeon below.

~Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum~

[pyronicex]

A story from my D&D Setting

You wanna hear a story ‘bout ‘ole Zachariah? Well you’re in for a treat, as I can think of a good one.

*Llewellyn groans*

Back when Zachariah complained more about his purse strings than his sore back the three of us were a team.  From Elysium to the Great Wood we travelled the savannah fighting monsters and protecting folks.  We fought outlaws, wild animals, vengeful spirits, and all manner of beasts.

So one day when we’re spending our last reward at a bar in... in where was it Llewellyn?

You mean in Palais?

AH! Yes, the one with the cute barkeep.  Anyways, we were drinking our silvers away when this big Felis runs in, all red in the face.  He says a huge monster, an ogre by the sound of it, has run off with his daughter.  She interrupted it going after his sheep and it musta taken a fancy to her.

Well Zachariah is a few tankards deep at this point but as soon as he mentions his daughter his ears perk up quick.  By the time I look back over at him he’s already grabbed his sword and is half way out the door with the poor girl’s father!  Llewellyn here, he starts to get up to go after  Zachariah but I said... 

You said if “It’s just an ogre, Zachariah can have all the glory, I’ve got 2 tankards to empty now!”  But he didn’t come back.

Dorian is having trouble keeping a straight face.  Llewellyn sighs and continues

Once we finished our meal and we headed out to the farm to see what was taking so long.

By the time we caught up with Zachariah we found out why he was having so much trouble…

Dorian bursts out laughing, “This is the best part!  Zachariah ran out here all cocksure thinking it was just an ogre and he could scare it off with a little swordplay and get the girl, but right as we get to him we see him get absolutely SOCKED in the noggin by this beast with TWO HEADS!”

Dorian is laughing too hard to continue

It was an Ettin, a kind of two headed giant we normally see closer to the mountains.  They are much more dangerous than Ogres.

AN ETTIN!  HAH!  Oh I can still remember the look on that poor girl’s face when she saw her drunken hero get socked square in the jaw.  The beast bends over to pick his body up, you know one meal for each head, and Llewellyn here lands an arrow square in the beasts’ tit.

I aimed for the HEART, Dorian.  

Right, right.  Anyways, I trapped the beast in mud and we quickly dispatched the beast.  I roused Zachariah, his face was already turning black and blue, and you know what.  Even after seeing all that, the girl STILL fell over herself in admiration for him.

Zachariah stops, and looks at Max and Malik, you know that’s how he met Madame Orland. He chuckles under his breath.  

No it isn’t Dorian.  You’re thinking of the other one.  The girl from Palais was the BLOND, he married the BRUNETTE.

Ah, I do believe you are correct Llwellyn I shall have to ask the Madame to remind me of the circumstances of their meeting.  Dorian snickers.

[yackdeculture]

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WALKÜRE - Ikenai BORDERLINE Mitsumeatte koi wo shite mugamuchuu de oikakete Dakedo motto shiritakute MERA MERA shiteru Negau hodo nazo wa fue omou hodo netsu ni naru Dakara motto tobikomu no mikai no sekai Koi toka yume toka dare demo shinjiru kedo SOKO SOKO semenakya tsumannai yo GIRI GIRI EYE ikenai BORDERLINE Gaido G demo subete kowashite miseru GIRI GIRI MIND sara naru G he to Ishiki wa tokeru karada wa seigyo funou Icchau kamo ne Fuzake atta tomodachi to motomeatta ano toki to Mata aeru hi no tame ni KIRA KIRA shiteru Hikaru hodo kage wa deki moeru hodo HIGH ni naru Hashiru hodo miete kuru abunai RAIN Jiyuu mo hei wa mo nozomeba umareru kedo MOTA MOTA shitetara kusatchau yo GIRI GIRI EYE abunai BORDERLESS Hijou shiki dane mada kasoku shiteiru yo GIRI GIRI MIND Genkai tennara nurikaete ii Hakai to saisei kara watashi wa dekiru GIRI GIRI EYE ikenai BORDERLINE Gaido G demo subete kowashite miseru GIRI GIRI MIND sara naru G he to Ishiki wa tokeru karada wa seigyo funou Icchau kamo ne GIRI GIRI EYE eye ikenai BORDERLINE Moetsuki nagara mada kagayaite miseru GIRI GIRI MIND anata no tame ni Mirai no tame ni nando kudake chitte mo Aisuru koto de umare kawaru Aisa retakute ikite kaeru

[pyronicex]

[pyronicex]

Warboss finished!

[pyronicex]

Things i’m up to these days:

Star Wars:

X-wing the minis game

Saga Edition d20

Watching Star Wars: Rebels

Trying talk myself out of buying Battlefront

Being way too hype to see Ep7 in a month

Magic the Gathering:

Mizzix of the Izzmagnus, for commander

Hangerback Affinity for Modern

Budget BR Eldrazi Aggro for FNM this week

Dungeons and Dragons:

Tuesday 3.5 game (Wrestlands [WRESTLE LANDS])

Thursday 5e Out of the Abyss Adventurer’s League

Other Thursday DMing 5e Hoard of the Dragon Queen

And as much Fallout 4 as I can cram into my life

[pyronicex]

List im tryin

Boboba Wired Suhlak (100) Guri (34) Bodyguard (2), Autothrusters (2) Boba Fett (47) Calculation (1), Recon Specialist (3), Engine Upgrade (4) N'Dru Suhlak (19) Wired (1), Inertial Dampeners (1)

[pyronicex]

why is tumblr rotating my pics

[pyronicex]

New goal, construct shrine to YV-666

[pyronicex]

Well, I mean.... Im not sure what you thought the Most Wanted Expansion would do.

[pyronicex]

Hmm... Anyone else get this e-mail yet today?

[pyronicex]

Painting a mini for dnd

[markrosewater]

You mentioned that Dominaria ' s size and variance makes it lack cohesive identity compared to Starwars planets or Tarkir. What about the United States? They have an identity. Is the fact that all of the places are on Dominaria not unifying enough?

No, it is not. You have up to five words. Encapsulate Dominaria.

[pyronicex]

The Nexus of the Multiverse